Splish, Splash!

It's still hot here - hot enough that, when the temperature dropped to 89 today, it felt cool to me. That's when you know you have been enduring some high temperatures! (And 104 is expected on Tuesday.)

All this heat means the water trough empties quickly. The horses drink a lot of water, but some of it evaporates, too, so filling it is a nightly job. Tonight, everyone wanted a drink after their carrot treats.

Notice how both Hokey and Trouble are dribbling water from their mouths.

 But Hokey, being Hokey, decided to play in the cool, refreshing water, not just drink it.

First he stuck in nose in and messed with the running water at the end of the hose. 

 Tim has had to put a C-clamp on the hose to hold it in place because the horses like to play with the hose so much!

And then Hokey blew bubbles and stirred the water with his nose! (He reminds me of Cee who LOVED water.) Hokey is such a water baby.

Honeys, I'm Ho-ome!!

After having been at BreyerFest in Kentucky since Thursday, it was good to head out to the barn this evening. The horses were all behind the old barn and out of sight, so I whistled a couple of times and called, "Aaaabbyyyy!"

Instant reaction.

Around the side of the barn came Abby with her ears pricked up followed by Mason. Hokey poked his head out of one barn door while Trouble did the same out of the other door. Diablo followed Abby and Mason. (Mason REALLY likes carrots. He surged ahead and beat everyone else to the gate!)

I got a lovely series of low nickers from Abbs as she paced the fence, waiting for her treat.

 Carrots and sugar cubes make one thirsty!

Some green grass to balance out the treats.

Every time I look at Abby's pictures, I am struck by how pretty she is. Truly a beautiful mare.

Nightly Ritual

This is the last thing I see at the barn just about every evening now. Abby follows me up to the gate and says goodbye.

And she stands there watching me as I walk to my car, get in, and pull away.

It may be my imagination, but she seems a bit wistful as she watches. It pulls my heartstrings - clearly she enjoys my visits as much as I do.

And again I wonder, how could anyone have neglected and abused such a sweet little mare?

The Ol' Garden Hose

Remember hot summer days and getting cool, refreshing drinks out of the garden hose? And then maybe messing around with it, just a little bit? A big part of summer fun when I was a kid.

Seems as though horses enjoy their own version of playing with the garden hose. I was adding water to the trough tonight, when a pretty brown muzzle thrust itself into view. Yep, Hokey had arrived!

 He seemed quite interested in the running water, and reached over and nibbled the spigot.

 And then he began lapping the water like a dog!

 Next, Hokey put his muzzle in the running water and took a few big gulps.

 But he didn't swallow.

 Nope, he just stood there and held the water inside his mouth for a while. (Horses often do that, and that's why, when I hand out the carrots, I sometimes get doused - the horse has been walking around with a mouthful of water only to lose it all over me when grabbing for the carrot!)

 Looks like he even did a little swishing of the water around in his mouth!

 And.... SWALLOW.

And then Hokey proceeded to put his head into the water and splash around.

He may be twelve, but he's still just a big kid!

Texting Diva from the Pasture

"Okay, now, tell her I would like more than the usual daily ration of carrots when she visits me. After all, I do come whenever she calls, so surely that is worth something, don't you think? Oh, and please tell her that Trouble keeps ignoring me even though I am being nice to him. I really think that, with Dolly in Williamsport for a few weeks, he could be a little nicer to me. Don't you agree?"

"You got all that, Pam? Good. Now, next I'd like you to tell Lynn to..."

A Princess Bride Moment

This picture of Abby and Hokey touching noses brings to mind the line from the wedding scene in the movie The Princess Bride:

"Love. Twoo love."

Favorite Places - a Tour of the Barn

There are several places on earth that are my favorite in which to be:

~ My home or my children's homes. (Or anywhere my family is.)

~ The temple.

~ My classroom.

~ Kentucky Horse Park.

And...

~ the barn.

I am at home in most barns (er, ones with horses, that is!) and have been since I was 9 and began riding lessons at Horse Schuh Farm in Lafayette. I love the weathered wood many of them have, the aroma of horses and hay, the sounds of munching as the horses work on their hay, and the nickers and whinnies. Doing barn chores. Leaning over a stall door and visiting with its resident. And yes, I even love cleaning up what that resident leaves behind!

Since I adopted Abby at the end of April, I have been at the barn just about daily. It has become a very familiar place, and one in which I am very comfortable and at home. I thought it might be fun to write an entry about Abby's home so I took some photos last night and tonight.

The northeast entrance (where we bring the horses in for grooming, trimming, and saddling.)

 It leads to this welcoming aisle.

 You can see the southeast entrance to the barn at the end of the line of stalls. The indoor arena is to the right in this picture.

Next up - the lounge!

 Not that much lounging happens at the barn! Those windows allow you to view lessons and the door leads into an aisle that runs along three sides of the arena. I have used this room to clean tack, too.

 There are chairs to sit in if you choose. I use them as saddle holders when cleaning. (I just noticed that you can see my reflection in the window!)

The lounge has two more doors leading off of it. The white door is the office and the brown door leads to the tack room.

 There's a third door on the right (not pictured) that opens to a bathroom.

The lounge also has a working cast iron stove!

 I think it would be fun to set up tables and invite friends for dinner in the lounge and then have a barn dance afterward. Maybe this October?

 As you can see, the barn has a western theme. Even the office door sports a sign from the west.

 Tim stores my two saddles in his office along with an antique English saddle (on the rack above mine) and an antique child's pony saddle (left front) which I think is adorable! I don't think that the TV or VCR ever get used.

 There's also a mini fridge for water bottles, carrots, and medicines in the office.

Next up? The tack room! And it is pretty amazing in all it holds. (See that lariat on the far wall?)

 Saddles, bridles, halters, lead ropes, brushes, buckets, combs, longe lines, longe whips, saddle bags, chaps, a lariat, replacement hardware for broken tack... You can find it all in here.

 There are probably 14-16 saddles in the tack room and countless bridles, halters, and lead ropes.

 Speaking of such, can you guess which is my stuff?? The color kind of gives it away.

 Also in the tack room are cupboards full of helmets, dewormers, first aid kits, and just about anything you can think of that you might need when working with horses. And yes, the orange bucket is mine. So is the yellow one - I had to buy a four-pack of buckets to get the orange one.

 Some day I would like to take out each saddle, look at it, and give it a good cleaning. Some, I think, are vintage or even true antiques.

Saddles are stored on racks mounted on two walls of the room.

There are two walls of bridles, halters, lead ropes, etc., too. I think that is a harness on the top left but I have never looked at it closely.

Just as moms pack enormous diaper bags to take their babies places, and have rooms full of furniture, clothes, toys, and other necessities for their children, a horse also needs quite a bit of equipment in order to properly care for them.

And Abby is most definitely worth it!